Letter: Count aliens but not as U.S. citizens

I'd like to comment on the current discussion of having an “Are you a citizen” question of the census.

First, it should be noted that the question was on the Census until 2010 when a Democrat administration found there to be an advantage to its removal.

What is that advantage? First seats in the House of Representatives are allocated based on census head count. The formula is too complex to worry about here, but if you have more people you will probably have more seats in the House.

I think the average American would question a House representative who got his or her seat based on an illegal alien population. Without the question on the Census, there is no way to tell who deserves representation and who doesn't. The average representative today represents a population of about 730,000 Citizens. If California for example has 5 million illegal aliens, that could lead to them having six or seven additional seats in Congress.

Another concern might be that federal dollars for social programs are allocated based on a state's head count. Again I can see a concern of a New Hampshire resident who realized that his tax dollars were going to pay for social services for illegal aliens in California.

Yes, the Democrats will offer all kinds of spurious arguments about how unethical it is to ask, about how the question will cause people not to respond to the census, how it is unfair or immoral to denigrate the alien population by forcing them to identify themselves.

Sure. Count them. But understand they are still a population that is separate from the citizenry of the United States of America.

Bob Griffin

Burlington

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